Shannon Rea’s job as a part-time bartender in Brooklyn gives her a close-up look at the risky behavior of people in their 20s.<\/p>\n
Some end a night of drinking with hookups. Some take rides from the slightly inebriated. Others try to drive when they shouldn’t. (She sobers them up, takes their keys and finds them rides.)<\/p>\n
“I think the early 20s are the new teenage years,” says Rea, 26, a college student studying to be a history teacher. “There are no parents telling them, ‘You can’t do this.’ It’s pretty much a free-for-all.”<\/p>\n
The 20s always have been prime time for risky behavior, from binge drinking and unprotected sex to dabbling in drugs and driving too fast. But new brain research suggests young adults may have less control over these impulses: Neurological areas that regulate impulse and emotions are not fully developed until about the mid-20s, findings show.<\/p>\n